My favourite songs of the past month.
The top songs of the month
Click the title of the song to see the original post.
My rotational highlight from Precession, one of 2017’s best Irish albums.
The first original track from the Kildare duo, released on the 045 Recordings EP, is an absolute dancefloor stomper, a synth-rush tune that melds the bouncing pinging synth of ‘Inspector Norse’ with a Daft Punk style vocoder robot vocal.
It’s unusual to think of a Gorillaz song in pure emotional terms but as the recent Song Exploder podcast makes plain, Andromeda is written in tribute to two people close to Damon, recently deceased – his partner’s mother and Bobby Womack. The beat also had the working title of Billie Jean Can’t Go For That which is easy to decipher.
‘DNA’ is the most furious and cacophonous cut from DAMN. framed with a sample of a Fox News anchor Geraldo Riveria reacting to his performance at the BET Awards in 2015, which also appears in the song in the form of the Geraldo sample – “This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African Americans than racism in recent years.”
‘DNA’ is a response to that idea. “I know murder, conviction / Burners, boosters, burglars, ballers, dead, redemption / Scholars, fathers dead with kids / And I wish I was fed forgiveness.”
The new single from English duo is produced by Tourist and has a lovely soft-rock Fleetwood Mac vibe in the chorus. One for the re-spin.
https://youtu.be/nziP1-R9ijQ
A remix of a highlight from Joe Goddard’s album by Metro Area’s Morgan Geist. The sample is from Brainstorm’s ‘We’re on Our Way Home’ , which Goddard says he found on tour in his Electric Lines playlist.
https://youtu.be/AG6lk0iN_UM
A highlight from Swedish electro-popper’s fifth album. They play Dublin in October.
This highlight from the Dubliner’s new album grows from a dark folk tone, from a hush to a howl as the track grows in stature and sound, subtly bringing in electronic-tinged touches and vocal effects as the song builds to the chorus and crescendo. Well on the way to a million Spotify streams, ‘Glory’ will surely be a breakout song for Kennedy.
The Dublin-based art pop duo of Aoife McCann and Ellie McMahon aka Æ MAK have demonstrated an interest in exploring performance, visual and dance to augment their bright music style. For their new single ‘I Walk’, Æ MAK sound at their most creative and ambitious on a song about “self-belief and determination.”
The Wah Wah Wino crew have been steadily building a momentum in releasing underground, alternative and experimental house and techno music that has found favour with some big name touring DJs, who mostly operate outside Ireland.
Their recent vinyl-only release is a curveball from that – Short Passing Game, a full-length from Dubliner Davy Kehoe is less four/four and more on a exploratory, jazz and electronic excursion tip.
‘Storm Desmond’ is the album’s highlight and it’s a ten minute meandering gem featuring Kehoe playing mbira, harmonica, MS-20, drum machine, vocals and whistles, acccompanied by Seán Mac Erlaine on bass clarinet and Brendan Jenkinson (Cloud Castle Lake) on guitar and bass.
